CFTT Opens Season With New Targets

Castrol Ford Team Türkiye, which won both the drivers' and teams' championships in 2015 and delivered Turkey's first European Rally Cup success, kicked off its 2016 season at the Aegean Rally.

In the opening round of a season in which last year's champion Murat Bostancı has European Rally Championship ambitions and the team's other successful driver, Orhan Avcıoğlu, will take on greater responsibility, Castrol Ford Team Türkiye scored important points towards the teams' championship. At the Aegean Rally, Orhan Avcıoğlu finished third overall in a Ford Fiesta S2000, while Murat Bostancı took fourth in a Ford Fiesta R2T.

Murat Bostancı also finished as the best two-wheel-drive car and gained valuable experience by competing in the car he will use in this year's European Rally Championship programme. Orhan Avcıoğlu, Castrol Ford Team Türkiye's lead driver this season, finished third overall despite losing time with a spin on the first stage. Avcıoğlu also picked up an extra point on the "Power Stage", used for the first time this year, and described the rally as intensely competitive: "We did everything we could to win, but the time we lost with the spin on the first day left us behind. On the second day we raised our pace and made it into the top three overall. The next round will be on gravel in Marmaris, and we are as confident as ever for that rally. We are keeping our end-of-season championship target."

Last year's champion Murat Bostancı pointed out that they had begun the season with a new car and set out his new goals: "I had two goals in this rally: to see the potential of our new car, and to gain experience by clocking up kilometres in the car I will use in the European Rally Championship. I think we achieved both. This year will be a very different season, both for Castrol Ford Team Türkiye and for me."